I’M NOW OFFERING KLAIRE LABS PROBIOTICS AND PROTHERA SUPPLEMENTS

Klaire Labs probiotic_groupI’d like to let everyone know that I am now offering my clients world-class probiotics from Klaire Labs and supplements from their parent company, ProThera.

Klaire Labs’ probiotics are a known and trusted entity, especially in the autism-recovery world, and the application of their probiotics extends far beyond autism to those with allergies, asthma, ADHD, OCD, SPD and other autoimmune, digestive and neurological disorders.

The ProThera line includes minerals, vitamins, fatty acids and supplements designed to improve the function of the immune system, liver and adrenals, as well as antioxidants, amino acids and enzymes.  They even carry non-denatured whey protein!

To learn more about how I can help improve your symptoms of these conditions, you can read more about me here.

WHAT IS GUT DYSBIOSIS?

fungal myceliaGut dysbiosis — this topic is the motherlode.  It’s one of the two core (in my opinion) reasons for the explosion of chronic childhood illnesses we see today.

Gut Dysbiosis:  A Common Link Among the Epidemic of Children’s Chronic Illnesses

First, let’s discuss the numbers behind this epidemic:  How many kids did you know when you were growing up that had autism, ADHD, acid reflux, allergies, asthma, developmental delays and/or mental health issues?  [Read more…]

HEALING ECZEMA WITH THE GAPS DIET

My sons have had eczema their whole lives.  It has ranged from cradle cap (did you know that was a form of eczema?) to itchy bumps in the creases of the knees and elbows to full-blown bloody red rashes on the arms and legs.

Pediatricians, as usual (sorry!), were useless in treating eczema.  Their standard advice was to “put a little cortisone cream on it”.  I did try that a few times at first with my older son, but I quickly grew worried about the effects of it on his already-poor immune system.  [Read more…]

Lyme Disease Symptoms in Children

A few months ago, my then-6-year-old son had a definite change in his typically sweet personality for the worst.

Given that he already been recovered from sensory processing disorder, I was confused.

This time, instead of crying at loud sounds, bright lights, fast motions, etc., he was ANGRY.  In fact, every time I would ask him to do something, he would yell back at me and say that I hated him and that I was yelling, when in fact I wasn’t yelling at all.

Almost every day he would look at me with total hatred and anger, stomp out the front door and tell me he was running away from home.

I was really confused because these are supposed to be the “golden” years of childhood when there’s not so much hands-on work to do with children this age and they are happy to be with their family.

I kept thinking “If he’s like this as a child, what the heck is he going to be like as a teenager?”

Could It Be Lyme?

This went on for a few months until I remembered about Lyme disease; this blog is about Lyme disease symptoms in children..  Lyme disease can cause sudden changes in behavior, and we live in tick-ridden Connecticut, so this wasn’t a far-out hypothesis.

Lymedisease.org lists the following common symptoms of children with Lyme:

  • “severe fatigue unrelieved by rest
  • insomnia
  • headaches
  • nausea, abdominal pain
  • impaired concentration
  • poor short-term memory
  • inability to sustain attention
  • difficulty thinking and expressing thoughts
  • difficulty reading and writing
  • being overwhelmed by schoolwork
  • difficulty making decisions
  • confusion
  • uncharacteristic behavior
  • outbursts and mood swings
  • fevers/chills
  • joint pain
  • dizziness
  • noise and light sensitivity”

Here a few other symptoms in children:

  • Low tone
  • Clumsiness
  • Learning disabilities
  • Vision problems
  • Fear of heights
  • Rages
  • OCD
  • Heartburn
  • Achiness, especially in the knees

Uncharacteristic Behavior

It was the uncharacteristic behavior, outbursts and mood swings that really made me suspect that it might be Lyme.

I did more research on it, especially about Dr. Charles Ray Jones, a Lyme pediatric specialist who practices near my town.  I had heard him speak before at Dietrich Klinghardt’s Klinghardt Academy in New York City a few months prior; Dr. Klinghardt also specializes in difficult-to-treat disorders, like Lyme, autism and autoimmune diseases.

I had brought a friend who suffers from possible Lyme disease with me to the Academy’s workshops, and she knew of Dr. Jones and his amazing work.

Dr. Jones is fairly famous in the Lyme disease community for recovering children from what is thought to be autism, ADHD, SPD, OCD, ODD and other neurodevelopmental disorders.  It turns out that in MANY of these cases, these children actually had Lyme disease. 

Dr. Jones has recovered over 10,000 children from these disorders.  He prescribes various antibiotics for a course of many years, whereas if you were to go to a typical doctor for treatment of Lyme, he or she would prescribe antibiotics for a few weeks or months.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to subject myself or my children to antibiotics for any amount of time these days, knowing what I know about how they destroy the immune system.  But, hey, the man gets results, and the results show that many of these disorders are, in fact, from Lyme infections.

In his presentation, he gave a few examples of children.  One of them was a young boy who at a very young age (5 or 6) had already been in and out of juvenile detention for things like harming animals, which is a known sign of a child or person on the road to becoming a hardened criminal.  After a few months of treatment from Dr. Jones, this same boy had become the sweetest, most likeable child.

Dr. Jones typically suspects Lyme if the child has any of the following conditions:

  • “frequent fevers
  • increased incidence of ear and throat infections
  • increased incidence of pneumonia
  • irritability
  • joint and body pain
  • poor muscle tone
  • gastroesophageal reflux
  • small windpipe (tracheomalacia)
  • cataracts and other eye problems
  • developmental delay
  • learning disabilities
  • psychiatric problems”

What’s interesting is that 50% of Dr. Jones’ patients have no known history of being bitten by a deer tick and fewer than 10% have a history the classic Lyme bull’s-eye rash (erythema migrans).  In fact, many times the mother unknowingly passes the infection on to the child during pregnancy or childbirth.

Lyme Co-Infections

Lyme disease isn’t just infection from the Lyme spirochete bacterium.  There are also co-infections (bartanella, babesia and erlichia) that typically occur at the same time.  Or someone could just get one of the co-infections without having any of the other co-infections of Lyme.

Lyme disease and its co-infections are difficult to test for.  One reason is due to the corkscrew shape of the bacteria, which allows them to burrow in without being easily detected.

Spirochetes (see the word “spiral” in there?) are one of the most ancient forms of life on this Earth, and they know to survive and adapt to rapidly changing environments.

The Great Masquerader

Lyme can masquerade not only as autism and development delays but also as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis and neurological damage.  In my mind, it should be one of the first things tested for when an autoimmune disease or neurological dysfunction has a sudden onset.  It’s becoming a hidden epidemic, as not a lot of doctors know to test for it.

There’s an excellent documentary about Lyme called, “Under Our Skin”.  I specifically remember a beautiful woman documented in the film who became increasingly contorted.  She gradually lost control of many of her muscles, and doctors, of course, thought she had multiple sclerosis (MS).

The reason that we know it wasn’t MS is that she regained her strength and control after a very long course of antibiotics, so it was obviously an infection.  How many people that have MS, RA, fibromyalgia, autism or developmental delays simply have Lyme?  It’s a real shame they’re not getting proper treatment.

Lyme is not just limited to the Northeastern U.S. anymore; it’s now spreading west to places where you wouldn’t think deer ticks are.  Deer ticks are not the only means of transmission:  mosquitoes, fleas and ticks can also carry the infection.

Given that there is an increasing number of people with gut dysbiosis and toxicity, and thus, a compromised immune system, it’s not surprising that their weakened state allows for such an infection.

Testing for Lyme

Most doctors will run a Western blot test, but it’s not always accurate.  An IgG test would show elevated levels when fighting an infection for a long time, and an IgM test shows if an illness has been reactivated.

Given the confusion surrounding the issue of detecting Lyme, I asked our naturopath to test my son for Lyme with his ASYRA (yes, it’s a little “woo woo”).  Sure enough, my son was infected with bartonella, also known as cat-scratch fever.

Rather than going the antibiotic route, our naturopath prescribed a super-strong herbal remedy.  Ever since treatment began a couple of months, my son hasn’t been hateful or hurtful and is now the super-sweet boy I remember.  His favorite words now are, “I’m so happy I could cry.”  Me, too!

 

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICITY AND AUTISM

Pollution of environmentHave you ever wondered WHY there’s such an epidemic of autism these days?  Why is the rate now 1 in 50, when it was only 1 in 10,000 a couple of decades ago?

Not only that, but WHY are there also epidemics of developmental delays, learning disabilities, ADHD, allergies, asthma, mood disorders, sensory processing disorder, OCD, Lyme disease, autoimmune diseases and ear infections?

One of the reasons, confirmed yet again, is that environmental toxicity plays a role.  Epidemiologist Irva Hertz-Picciotto’s research says that a mom’s proximity to car pollution raises her risk of having an autistic child.

Dr. Phillip Landrigan and his team at the Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center have been saying much the same thing about the detrimental effects of certain toxins such as lead, mercury and flame retardants on the neurodevelopment of children.

My friend and colleague from Epidemic Answers, Beth Lambert, has written an excellent book about the multi-factorial causes of these epidemics.  In her book, “A Compromised Generation“, she has written about the perfect storm of causes, including environmental toxicity, leading to these epidemics.

Have you looked into how toxicity might be related to your or your child’s chronic illnesses?

 

REMISSION FROM PARKINSON’S WITHOUT DRUGS?

I was shocked to find out that my high-school friend Roger Long had Young-Onset Parkinson’s.  We’re not THAT old!

But I was super-happy to discover that his Parkinson’s is in remission because of his thinking outside the box.

Not only that, but Roger climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro a few months ago without being on any medication!  [Read more…]

WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF AUTISM, ADHD, ALLERGIES, ASTHMA AND AUTOIMMUNE?

Why is there such an epidemic of autism, ADHD, allergies, asthma, autoimmune diseases and more in our children today?

Here’s my interview with Beth Lambert is the author of “A Compromised Generation” and Executive Director and co-founder of Epidemic Answers.

If you haven’t read the book, here’s the chance for you to get an overview of the perfect storm that’s causing the epidemic of childhood illnesses today.

34% of American children have a chronic disease or disorder like autism, ADHD, allergies, asthma, autoimmune disease, SPD, OCD, developmental delays, learning disabilities and more.

When the number of obese children is included, the number rises to 52%.  Why is this the “new normal”?

Share this to listen to the replay.

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